Live Free or Die Hard
by Blackstorm808
Summary: Toph didn't know what to do with her life after the war. Iroh gave her a hint. Less than 24 hours later she's been enslaved, and the only way to get free is to rely on a crazy stubborn princess with a sadistic streak.
1. On the Road Again

This is my first avatar fanfic. It had to be about Toph, cuz she's really the only character that matters. Eventually I'll add the other Avatar characters in but not right now:) I don't know who to pair her with yet, cuz frankly I can see Toph with any boy or girl except Sokka...so tell me what you think and I'll make a decision.

* * *

><p>Toph struggled with herself internally. What was she going to do? Everyone was leaving. Sugar Queen was running off to the South Pole to create her school of waterbending brats. Snoozles was going to back as a man of the tribe, and it's future chief. Sparky had the whole freakin fire nation to run, while his uncle ran a tea shop, and Twinkle Toes was flying into the sunset with Appa to start his whole peace-keeping shiz in the four nations.<p>

Which led her back to not knowing what to do.

She was the world's greatest Earth Bender-the Blind Bandit, unfortunately she was also a Bei Fong, and if she went home to her family they would imprison her again. They were freakin evil like that. Twinkle Toes and the others didn't know that she had been keeping tabs on her parents through old contacts from her Earth Rumble days, and apparently her parents had decided to renovate her rooms while she was gone, and replace the stone walls with a lovely wooden interior. Bastards. They made a wooden cage, and had every intention of putting in it.

She stood up from her comfy palace bed.

She wasn't going anywhere near the Bei Fong estate, and she wasn't getting carted around like a third wheel by any one of her friends.

Hmmm…

She shifted as her thought process was interrupted and she heard familiar footsteps at the door. Toph sighed despairingly.

What did Katara waaaant?

Jezus what did the Sugar Queen always want? Girl, talk….If they ended up talking about Katara's freakin feelings, and all the mushy shiz she experiences when Aang, or Sparky walk in the room…

Toph scowled, and glared at the general direction of the door.

"Hurry it up Sugar Queen. I have important crap to do."

Important crap like hunting down Iroh, and getting some advice. That was important.

Toph felt the waterbender's hesitant steps as she entered the room, which was odd because Katara was alway graceful. The only time her steps faltered were when she was injured, or…

Toph's scowl deepened. "Sugar Queen, I swear to god you better be complaining about something not-stupid or I'm burying you so far underground that you'll fall off the face of the earth, crash into another planet and get eaten by cannibalistic aliens."

Katara was staring at her like she was an idiot. She could feel it.

"Toph, look I wanted to know what you planned to do…You know when we all leave tomorrow?"

Toph stared at her blankly.

"I mean are you going back to your parents?"

Yeah. No.

Toph thought about it for another second.

Yeah…..Hellz no.

Toph replied slowly, annunciating each word carefully. "Sugar Queen, if I wanted to suffer and DIE there are much less painful ways to go then to be forcefully held against my will while my parents sedate and brainwash me to do god knows what with whatever rich lunkhead they find on the street."

She could feel the waterbender's annoyance filtering through the ground.

"So, you're not going home? Toph what are you gonna do? You can always come with Sokka and me-"

Toph held up a hand cutting her off.

"Are you hearing yourself Sugar Queen? You want me," Toph pointed to herself "To go with you," The earthbender pointed accusingly in Katara's direction. "to a place with no Earth, where I will be virtually blind, and freezing to death…No that's okay I'll pass on that lovely experience Sugar Queen."

Toph held back a snicker as Katara stomped one foot on the ground-beyond frustrated at this point.

"Then what are you going to do?"

Toph sat down and leaned against the headboard of the bed.

"Honestly, after all the crap we went through. I like traveling and moving, and fighting…and bashing people's faces in. I'd like to travel some more."

Toph grimaced as she felt Katara's heart rate spike in excitement.

"You can go with Aang then!"

The former Blind Bandit rolled her eyes. "Sugar Queen, I'm not going with Aang either. Twinkle Toes is a peace emissary, and his do gooder crap will stop me from getting things done my way. No I wanna explore a little bit on my own, be independent for once since I can actually do that now.

Toph could still feel Katara's hesitancy.

"Look Sugar Queen I'll be fine. I don't function well with people anyway. I'm not even sure how I survived traveling with you and the boys. I mean really there was a voice in the back of my head screaming 'Pwn all these losers, and get the hell off the tattooed buffalo.'"

"Toph…."

The world's greatest earthbender sat back at the exasperated note in Katara's voice, and the blind earthbender closed her eyes.

Maybe if she took a nap, Sugar Queen will be gone when she wakes up.

"Toph I know you're not sleeping. We need to talk about this."

Nope can't hear you…really busy fantasizing I was somewhere else.

"Toph!"

Oops did she say that out loud?

* * *

><p>(2hours later)<p>

Iroh…Iroh Iroh. Where did that old man slink off to? Toph meandered around the palace listening intently for her sometimes mentor's footsteps. Honestly, he was old and slightly decrepit, how far could he have gone?

She paused as the sound of a tea pot whistling vibrated throughout the air.

Where there's tea there's Iroh. It's a scientifically proven fact.

The earthbender deliberately headed for the source of the sound, and found herself in front of a double set of doors, a large elaborate double set doors by the feel of it. She pushed the door open, and was greeted by the smell of Jasmine Tea and a particular smell that could only belong to Iroh.

"Aw Toph my favorite child how are you?"

Favorite? Yeah. Right. He drank too much tea. Way too much.

"I'm doing alright Iroh."

She felt him nod, and the earth vibrated as he motioned to the seat across from him. "Sit child, and have some tea with an old decaying man."

Toph normally would shove a rock down someone's throat for telling her what to do, but this was Iroh, Dragon of the West, hell the man that acted more like her parents should have. She really respected him, so to illustrate her respect, when he said sit, she flopped down on the palace cushions immediately and took the cup of tea he handed her.

"Well, young earth bender since it's physically impossible for you to get lost, I'm going to bet you were looking for me. Right?"

Toph delicately sipped her tea.

Heh. Delicately… stupid word.

"Yeah, I need some advice Iroh."

He said nothing obviously waiting for her to continue and after a second Toph complied. "Well, everyone's paired off, and has their life planned out, but I don't know what to do. I refuse to go with Katara and Snoozles to a place where I can't earthbend. I can't travel with Aang because I will physically murder him. I can't stay here because I don't want to deal with Zuko and the political garbage he's going to face for the next ten years, and I can't go home because my parents are going to dictate everything I do and lock me up in a nice wooden cage so I can shrivel up and DIE."

"Well…what do you want to do?"

Toph threw her hands up exasperatingly in the air. "That's why I came to you. I don't know what I want to do!"

She heard Iroh take a sip of tea.

"It's unlike you to be goes against your element but it sounds like you want your own life. You don't want to be a third wheel, and you don't want go anywhere without Earth."

"Right!"

"Hmm…well…Perhaps we should discuss this while we play Pai Sho."

Toph groaned.

Never ask a tea drinking Pai Sho master for help in anything.

She did not protest when he brought out the wooden board game. She did not protest when he gave her the choice of tiles that would she choose. She did vaguely protest when her hand ran along the center of one tile and felt a familiar flower.

"No no no this belongs with your tiles, I'm not part of your White Lotus group thing you guys made up."

"Well why not?"

He was kidding right? She blinked as his vibrations revealed nothing even remotely resembling a lie. He must be confused. She came to the conclusion he must have Alzheimers and in no way was asking her to join a club composed of men in blue house robes that were old enough to be her grandparents from a hundred years ago that were too stubborn to die like normal people.

He was talking again.

"Really, Toph I mean you asked for direction and I'm giving it to you. The purpose of the White Lotus Society is to defy any and all social and racial barriers and unite people who can appreciate the little things and enjoy the beauty of life across the four nations."

"I'm blind I don't appreciate beauty. Little things deserved to be stepped on, and I don't unite people I break them."

She heard him chuckle.

"Toph, I know you. You're sight allows you to see and understand beauty on an entirely level, and you don't have the luxury to judge people by their appearances, only by their character and actions. I know that when you met my grandson, you knew he was sincere in wanting to help the Avatar even though he had hurt many people before. No one else would trust him but you. I also know that you love creating chaos because having a good time and getting punished is better than having no fun at all. You enjoy the little mistakes in life that make you stronger."

Toph sighed.

"So you want me to train to be a White Lotus member? Even though I'm a girl, I'm blind, and I enjoy violence of varying degrees."

Toph could feel Iroh smiling smugly behind his cup of tea.

"Be whatever you want, but I would enjoy your company as the youngest member of the society after you gain some training. That is assuming you actually manage to earn a white lotus position before you get old and senile."

Toph smiled dangerously.

Old man thought he was slick. He was targeting her ego. Purposely baiting her into accepting a challenge. She wasn't gonna fall for that crap.

She opened her mouth totally intent on voicing a clever refusal

"Where do I sign up Gramps?"

…

Her mouth did the opposite of what she told it too. What the hell?

Mutiny!

* * *

><p><em>Later…<em>

Toph began shoving her clothes in a pack. She had to meet a fire nation advocate-one of Iroh's contacts. Apparently she had to go train. Iroh was ruining her life. After she learned earthbending, metal bending and sandbending she was suppose to be done with training but nooooo…

She scowled as light eager footsteps stampeded to her door, followed by several more steps of people that she would rather not see.

"Sifu Toph!"

She groaned as her door flew open and Aang, Sokka, Katara, and Suki all ambled into her room.

"Sifu Toph, We're going-"

She heard Aang pause. He must have noticed the bags on the bed.

"Toph…?"

She slowly turned to look at her unwanted guests.

"Is there any particular reason you all decided to plant yourselves in my room?"

"Why are their bags in your room? Are you going somewhere?"

It was Suki of all people who was bombarding her with questions. Fangirl needed to stick to what she knew, like sharp objects and intimate knowledge of Snoozle's anatomy.

Toph shoved her championship belt in her bag, and closed the flap, and in one smooth motion hefted the bag over her shoulder.

"You guys are all leaving tomorrow. I'm leaving tonight. It's been five months since the invasion, and we're all going back to our respective lives. I have things I have to take care of now instead of later."

"Toph we were all going to hang out celebrate our last night together. It won't be fun without you."

The earthbender blinked as the vibrations registered to her. Twinkle toes didn't even bother to lie convincingly. Team Avatar would have fun without her and they both knew it. She would bet her Earth Rumble belt the group had forgotten to invite her and only showed up after someone reminded them.

Gee thanks guys next time don't call me and I won't call you.

"You guys had fun before I joined the group and started teaching Aang, and you'll have fun once I leave too."

"But Toph…"

She held up a hand, stopping Sokka midsentence.

"I'll be back for reunions and crap, but right now I really have to go…It's been a hoot guys. I'll miss all of you, and our crazy adventures."

She wasn't lying. Being alone was almost as bad as being imprisoned.

But not quite.

Toph thought adamantly as she shoved Aang out of the way of the door, and waltzed down the hallway, towards the palace courtyard and ultimately towards the palace exit.

* * *

><p>1 Hour later.<p>

After leaving Sparky's palace Toph traveled on foot towards the Fire Nation's capital, more than happy with feeling of real dirt underneath her feet instead of the palace alternative. If she traveled through the night, she would reach the capital, and be able to take a boat to Omashu where her training would begin.

She paused as a thought occurred to her. She would be walking all night. All. Freakin. Night.

She was going to be bored.

Toph sighed and slowly removed her meteor bracelet from it's place on her wrist, and practiced making intricate shapes with it.

A dragon

A fire flake

A tiny four eyed three kneed chicken.

Her interpretation of Twinkle Toe's face

A baby moose bear

…..What was that?

Toph paused in the middle of melding a shape that seemed suspiciously inappropriate and listened intently. Hmm. There it was again. It sounded like a cross between a pained grunt and an annoyed growl from something distinctly not human. She twitched as she heard it again this time louder and more menancing

The blind earthbender walked until the sound turned out right feral, and she could feel distinct thrashing and snarling vibrating the earth in front of her.

From the vibrations it was a dog of some kind.

She winced as another round of vibrations shook the clearing

A stupidly large pissed off dog.

Hell maybe even a wolf.

Hmm..What to do? Fido Godzilla Jr. was obviously stuck under a tree, and there was no way to earthbend the tree off of the mutt without hitting him. She could physically shove the tree off, but while shoving the tree she would be within biting range and if for whatever reason the dog actually did manage to bite her…

Well, she was gonna tie her bag around his neck till he choked, strap a saddle onto his back and make him swim her across the ocean to Omashu, while wearing an orange doggy tutu...

Don't freakin judge her.

She took a cautious step forward, and held one hand hovering near the tree.

"Alright you vicious blood sucking mutt. Stay still and-"

She snatched her hand back and felt a glimmer of relief as the Fido's jaws snapped shut with and audible click around the space of air her hand had been a second previously.

…Bloody hell. Her hand just almost got raped by some random dog's fangs. She would have NEVER recovered.

She wasn't even remotely amused any more.

"Alright, I'm done playing."

Quicker than the mutt could follow Toph swung both arms back and slammed them against the tree. The sorry piece of wood had no chance at all as it ricocheted away from them in the opposite direction, skidding down the dirt path into the woods.

Fido Godzilla Jr. was free.

Said canine did not exactly jump for joy though. In fact he was hardly breathing.

Toph took a cautious step forward, and paled when she heard nothing. No warning growl. No threatening snarl, just ragged almost inaudible breathing. Fido was hurting bad.

The earthbender slid to one knee, kneeling over the canine, trying and epically failing to not be concerned. With infinite care she slowly placed one hand on his flank, ignoring how the dog flinched at her touch, with a gentle-ness that was absolutely foreign to her she caressed along the dog's side up to his shoulder, and jerked her hand back, knowing it was slick with blood.

Toph rocked back on her heels.

She wasn't a healer. Katara was a healer. Healers know how to heal things. Kick ass Earthbenders that help save the world **don't **know how to heal things.

Toph took a breath telling herself to calm the freak down. Rationalize.

Okay. So Fido was bleeding. They were in a forest by themselves. Herbs would help. She didn't know shiz about herbs, and might accidently poison him. Poison is bad. A healer would help. The nearest healer was a night away, and Fido could die while she was gone…Fido is still bleeding. The bleeding needed to stop.

Pressure. She vaguely remembered Sugar Queen wrapping Aangs wounds to put pressure on them which stops the bleeding.

Toph quickly took a spare shirt from her pack and ripped it in half. She laid it across the canine, hearing it whimper and pain, as she held him up and wrapped the cloth around his wound. She fumbled, but continued to weave until the wound was completely covered.

Jeeze. Blind Bandit, and part time nurse. The world was screwed.

Toph yawned. She was exhausted. She had left her home. Again.

This time Twinkle Toes and the gang weren't with her though.

She sat back in the earth made a swift outward motions with her hand creating an earth tent for her and Fido.

Sleepy…it was bed time….

She vaguely remembered a blob of fur encircling her protectively while she slept.

* * *

><p>The next morning her fluffy companion had left, leaving her all on her own. She didn't know whether to feel relieved or annoyed that she got abandoned by a dog. Seriously, man's best friend just ditched her. Wtf.<p>

She sighed despairingly Oh well. Not a big deal.

Toph once again slung her sack across her shoulder, determined to reach the Fire Nation's capital and not miss her boat to Omashu.

She was about an hour from the city.

Eventually she was going to get there.

She started walking calmly- striding in between trees, occasionally vaulting over rocks…

Ignoring the pretentious and slightly paranoid voice in her head that was telling her she was being watched by someone or something of the non-friendly variety.

She sidestepped a fallen branch, and began whistling aimlessly.

And she whistled

And whistled.

And whistled.

Eons later, familiar vibrations caught her attention.

And hey look there's the capital.

She smiled as she quickened her pace to reach the heavily guarded gates. If someone was following her they had to leave or risk looking suspicious, when stalking her into the capital.

She arrived at the city gates, and could feel two beefy, and slightly intoxicated guards waiting for her. Wait. What the hell? Slightly intoxicated…? Since when are irresponsible alcoholics' put on guard duty in front of one of the Fire Nation's most prestigious cities. She grew up around dirty politics and under the table deals. Something reeked here, and that paranoid feeling was back again

One of the meaty guards aimed a spear at her.

"We need your papers ma'am."

The papers that branded her as the Runaway, and confirmed she was Bei Fong…

Hmm…How much did she want to get arrested?

Although…

She pulled out another set of papers that identified her as a Fire Nation citizen, and as a noble in Sparky's court. She placed them in the apes hand and tapped her foot impatiently as he took forever and a day to examine them, before slowly glancing at his buzzed partner.

"Is this the one?"

Toph felt a chill run down her spine.

Something was wrong here.

"Yeah, this is the Avatar's teacher."

Yeah. No. It's time to leave.

Toph slammed a foot into the ground and a mound of earth exploded an inch from guard number one's nose. Hopefully the explosion would improve his face, but she wasn't a miracle worker, then without pausing she swept her arm in a wide arc and a pillar of earth slammed guard number two face first into the dirt.

From that point two annoying things happened.

One a dart stabbed her in the neck, and she slowly felt herself losing consciousness.

Two, the voice in her head smugly said;

"I told you something non friendly was after you."

Her world went black.

* * *

><p><em>Several hours later...<em>

"Wakey, Wakey…little earthbender…C'mon little one wake up."

Toph groaned as she entered consciousness.

A broad hand covered her forehead, probably checking her temperature.

"How do you feel kid?"

"I hope you said goodbye to the bastards that KO'd me because after I take a nap I'm breaking all their legs, shoving my hand down their throat and strangling them with their vocal chords."

"I wouldn't talk like that around here. It's liable to get you dead before you can kill anyone."

Toph sat up, and quickly regretted it, feeling light headed and nauseous,

"Where is here?"

The voice got softer. "A camp. A prison camp. They caught you kid, and they really wanna break you."

Toph was no longer tired. She was completely awake, and for the first time two things became very real for her one she was not in her regular clothes, nor were her feet her bare, and two her hands were cuffed, along with her ankles, and heavy steel chains clinked as she moved into an awkward sitting position on her bed of earth.

She said the first coherent thing that came to mind.

"Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit."

* * *

><p>"Hold it Cookie."<p>

"My name's Aerin."

Toph rolled her eyes.

"You're soft spoken and full of useless wisdom like a fortune cookie. Hence the nick name. Deal with it. So Cookie what you're saying is basically that we're slaves in a death camp. Fire Nation anarchists work us to death and beat the crap out of us, or muder us off if they don't like us." Toph held up one cuffed arm. "These restraints stop us from bending, and no one has ever successfully escaped."

Toph felt her shrug nonchalantly, and physically restrained herself from bitch slapping her new companion.

What the hell was wrong with the girl sitting next to her?

They were in a death camp filled with psychopaths. No one could be this calm, but this girl…

"And the other thing is there's a routine here. We work from 5-"

"In the morning?"

The girl, Erin nodded slowly, and Toph died internally. Oh hell no. Five in the morning was too early. She refused.

"We work from 5 in the morning until 10 and night, at all we eat and socialize and then go back to sleep at 12."

Toph blinked, and slowly sank into the dirt. This sucked. Royally sucked. She did not have time to whine about how much it sucked because one aspect of her new unwanted situation was about to present itself that she would hate for the rest of her life.

"Alright you fugly curs line up. We have new merchandise that needs inspection."

**Merchandise...**

Toph's thoughts echoed darkly.

The earthbender could hear the frantic scrambling as everyone moved to comply. Aerin grabbed her hand pulling her to her feet and dragging Toph in line next to her. Toph could feel people in neat rows in front and behind her. She could hear their raging hearts and feel their short anxious breaths as they were inspected like fucking **cattle.**

She memorized how the man inspecting them walked, how he breathed. She memorized how the gravel crunched under his feet, because by the time all this was done. She was going to **end **him.

Aerin must have felt her tense because she hissed next to her.

"Toph don't do anything stupid. Just let him look at you and he'll move on."

Yeah because earthbenders always avoided conflict. Yeah. No. Who did she look like? Twinkle Toes?

The man stopped in front of Erin, and Toph by pure force of will contained the urge to lunge at him. She counted to ten, but math always pissed her off and she could feel herself getting more frustrated. Finally he finished with her companion and he took a step forward, and paused obviously assessing her.

"It's been reported that one Toph Bei Fong helped trained the Avatar." Toph could smell his rancid breath as he stepped closer to her. "It's also been reported that you are Toph."

He took another step forward and in one swift motion grabbed her chin, examining her face like one would a prize stock animal. "I expected more."

In that instant Toph did not think.

Her hand clenched into a fist and she brained him, smiling smugly when she heard him the dirt muttering expletives.

Someone jumped on her, and someone else sucker punched her, in the stomach and once in the jaw, and from there her world exploded into pain.

* * *

><p>What felt like years later, she barely felt it as she was unceremoniously dragged along a narrow passage way. She almost ominously heard a wooden door close behind them, and they meandered into an underground passage way.<p>

She had never been this helpless. It was pissing her off.

Everything hurt.

She knew for a fact that at least two ribs were broken and everything else ached.

The men carrying paused, and she heard a large clank and a door swing open and they dumped her face first onto the ground. She bit back a whimper as her body exploded in pain and she cursed blindly at everything. Next time a Pai Sho master told her to do something besides make tea she was telling them to shove it.

"Alright, I'll let you bitches get well acquainted since you two cause the most trouble I'm sure you'll be seeing lots of each other."

Two..someone else was in the cell with her…

Shit what if it was some crazy sadistic lunatic? Toph was kinda vulnerable right now.

The two guards who obviously didn't care about her life ambled off, laughing obnoxiously, and eventually even their voices faded in the dark damp greyness that was their prison, leaving two unknown females alone in the same dreary quiet pit until-

"What exactly is the Avatar's earthbending teacher doing here?"

Toph eye's widened disbelievingly. She knew that unamused drawl.

Oh hell she even knew that annoyed twitch she could feel through the vibrations.

"Azula?"

Wtf!

* * *

><p>So there's my cliffhanger. Next chapter is coming so R and R in the meant time.<p> 


	2. My side

Bam! New chappie! I dunno why this chappie felt long but it was. Maybe it was all the drama. Thanks for the 3 that reviewed. You 7 put me on the author list technically could have reviewed. Just a thought:) Antyways, I still havent decided to put Toph with Aang, Azula, or Zuko cuz honestly it could b with any of those 3, but regardless there will b a strong tophzula friend thing going on that might turn into a relationship later. I dunno I'll figure it out.

* * *

><p>Toph twitched.<p>

Her ribs were still broken. Her body still ached, and across from her sat one of the most dangerous people in the elemental nations, aside from herself and the Avatar. It was karma. The universe hates her. She was being punished for having stupid parents, who didn't know how to use protection, and produce normal non crippled babies.

"Hey earthbrat, I was talking to you. Why are you here?"

Toph was surprised to hear a slight shift in tone. Princess didn't sound like her normal psychotic self. In fact she sounded tired, exhausted even. This place obviously hadn't done her any favors.

"Well, princess I ran into this one man on the street one day, and told him that pain makes me happy, and then I asked him politely to cuff me, beat the chiz out of me, and bind my feet so I was blind, and then I begged him to throw me in a cell with you so we can reminisce about all the great times we had together."

She could practically feel the angry emo waves flowing off her cell companion, but when the fire princess opened her mouth, nothing but resigned words came out.

"They ambushed you, and you did something retarded so they tried to beat the stupid out of you and threw you in here to punish you."

Who asked you?

Toph scowled.

"Well why are you here then princess? Shouldn't you be locked up in the palace getting mental help? Preferably while you're up to your eyeballs in sedatives, and drinking your food through a bendy straw…

The pause before princess's answer let Toph know she wasn't going to appreciate what her ex-nemesis had to say.

"Out of sight out of mind." Toph blinked at Azula's abnormally soft reply not quite sure what to make of it. "Zuzu feels threatened when I'm at the palace, and he's still jealous and pissy about all our past dealings. He sent me to a rather unsavory general, told him I was a prisoner, and let the man do as he pleased with me. The bastard branded me, and sold me to a stray anarchist group who double as slave traders. I've been here six months total earthbrat, while you and your ragtag group ran around pretending to be heroes."

Damn. What the crap? Sparky, that was cold.

The new fire lord had basically just sold his only sister to a death camp. The fire princess had been in this hellhole for six freakin months. Six months alone was enough to mentally scar anyone. Even someone like Azula.

"Six months is a long time to be in this pit. How come you haven't escaped?"

Sharp bitter laughter surprised the earthbender, and she jumped a little. The sudden movement rattled her broken ribs, and she hissed as her already black world darkened a little more at the pain. Why the bloody hell did moving hurt? Moving wasn't supposed to hurt. Cavities hurt. Paper cuts hurt. This was ridiculous.

The bitter laughter ebbed, and Azula's reply was tinged with resentment.

"I've tried. Over and over again, I've tried to get out of this hole, but the chains on our arms and legs cripple our chi so we can't bend. I've tried to sneak out but they catch me, or they toy with my emotions so I get pissed off enough to reveal myself. The only way out is to physically force your way out, and between lack of sleep, exercise, malnourishment, and dehydration. No one is strong enough to physically escape."

Toph wanted to slam her head into the cement wall behind her. Repeatedly.

She couldn't even begin to describe how freakin stupid this whole situation was.

"Hey princess, I hear a lot of whining but where's your fire? Aren't you supposed to be some kind of genius? Why the hell hasn't your overly large brain figured a way out of this mess?"

"Stupid girl. I already told you. Brute force is literally the only way out of here, and I doubt you of all people will succeed where I failed."

Toph took comfort in Azula's snide and biting tone. That last comment almost sounded like the vicious Azula of old that used to want to skewer her with lightning and slow roast her over a blue flame…

Um..wait, Why did she take comfort in the fact that Azula was regressing back to her violent psychotic tendencies again? Was she that desperate for something familiar?

This place was making her stupid.

"I don't need to succeed where you failed princess. In fact all I really need to succeed is you."

Wow that didn't sound weird or inappropriate at all.

"Come again?"

Azula's amused drawl caused her to scowl.

"What I mean perv, is that the reason you couldn't escape before is that the amount of sleep, exercise, and food you get are limited, and obtaining more of those three things takes time and energy which you don't have because the sentry's beat the chiz out of us so often. So if someone like myself were to keep the bastards distracted while you improved your health and got stronger, and then we switched and you became the distraction while I trained, eventually we'll both be able to break these restraints, and get everyone out of here."

"There's a flaw in your plan."

Toph groaned. Fire nation nobles were the bane of her existence.

"What princess? What's wrong with my plan?"

"The distraction runs the risk of getting beaten to death or crippled long before we escape, which makes the whole plan redundant because it's based on at least two people fulfilling their parts."

Redundant. Wtf. Who talks like that? What the hell does that even mean?

Toph sighed scratching her head in slight confusion.

"Alright, fine your highness. What do you suggest we do?"

She could practically hear the smile in the fire princess's voice.

"I didn't say no to the plan, just that there's a high chance of the distraction dying a slow painful death."

Toph twitched. Hating her life.

This would be the second time Toph has helped one of Iroh's family members. It was getting old. She was charging the old man thousands of dollars in tea when they got home, and for every scar she got out of this venture someone was getting backhanded into the dirt, and forced to worship her feet for eternity.

_After an hour of awkward silence…_

"Ugh it's too freakin quiet! I'm going to diiiiiiieee! This silence is evil! Do something! Anything! Hell tell me a story."

"How old are you ten? Do you need a blankie too? Grow up. This world doesn't need any more spoiled monsters in it."

Toph sat back. Spoiled monster. Princess was missing the point.

"Don't be stupid your snarkiness. It's not about being spoiled and needing something to get me to sleep or anything. Too much silence really is bad. People aren't meant to be alone Azula. Solitude is one of the leading causes of insanity, and it never did anything for either of us."

"Funny I see you speaking but all I hear is my uncle's philosophical garbage coming out."

Toph heard Azula shift, probably trying to get comfortable against the hard dirt walls.

"I sincerely doubt my life's the kind of bedtime story you want. I know you're a Bei Fong so you're used to all the aristocratic crap. There's very little I've experienced that you haven't."

She had a point. Political shiz made her want to crawl into a hole, and explore her hibernation skillz in earnest.

"Well what the hell? What else are we going to do? We're going to be stuck in this hole underground for who knows how long."

"I've been down here for a month. Depending on how badly you pissed off the guards you could be here that long or longer."

Azula's comment caused Toph to grimace slightly.

"How bad off am I on a scale of 1 to 10 if I sucker punched the guy that inspects the prison line?"

Azula's bemused chuckles vibrated through the air, and Toph had difficulty deciding whether to be offended or amused.

"You hit that sorry bastard?"

Toph had to grin. When Azula actually acted less like a demonic princess from hell, she had the potential to be a fun person.

"He was inspecting us like stock. I'm not a breeding animal. I'm the greatest earthbender that ever lived. No one is going to make me be less than I am, espsecially not some no name army reject that can't deal with people like a regular person so he treats them like crap, and beats the tar out of them for shits and giggles."

"Earthbrat…you could be in here a long time. That man is easily offended, and known across the Fire Nation for holding a grudge."

goddamnit.

Worst. Luck. Ever.

Toph sighed blowing the hair out of her sightless eyes, the motion causing her to shift, and her world exploded into pain. Again. Broken ribs are extra retarded, mixed with oodles of stupid. They ruin perfectly good earthbenders and turn them into whiny prats that wanna DIEEEEE!

HOLY CHIZ. IT HURT!

"What's wrong with you? You look like someone just told you you had to wear dress. You're pale and have that half dead look."

The earthbender scowled.

Really? Wtf princess? Go break your ribs and you come back smiling.

"That stupid line inspector broke my ribs. It hurts to move."

When Azula remained silent Toph was deliriously happy no teasing would occur, but said happiness wilted and died when she heard Azula's feet scrape against the floor, as the former princess stood and carefully trudged forward in her direction.

"What exactly are you doing? I'm pretty sure there were unsaid boundaries, and it was unsaid that clearly this side of the cell was mine, and you stayed on your side of the cell, where you can't kill me, or molest me."

Toph swore she heard a snort, but that couldn't be right. This was the always dignified Azula. Snorting was **beneath** her. Then again being in a death camp was beneath her too. Karma was an evil PMSing bitch.

She didn't need earthbending to know that Azula had suddenly crouched next to her, however earthbending would have forewarned her when she felt a slight poke in the ribs, causing her to take in a sharp breath that moved her ribs even more.

Oh god. She felt lightheaded.

Even though her teeth were clenched in pain she managed to cuss in nine different languages, and heard Azula whistle appreciatively at the end of her colorful rant.

"I didn't know you knew ancient earth dialects."

"Bleeding mother of Christ princess, I said my ribs are **broken**, not sprained, or dented, why in god's name would you _poke_ them?"

She heard Azula shrug and had a marginal urge to brutally murder her cell mate, but took a deep breath and let it go. It was in the princess's nature to be infuriating. It meant that her Fire Nation spirit had not been broken. Yet.

Toph jumped at the distinct sound of ripped cloth. Azula was going to suffocate her and break her neck. Holy biscuits. Toph shuffled back, and her ribs screamed at her, yelling things like "OMFG, What the flying fuck are you doing to us you selfish piece of crap." Or they yelled. "You stupid cheese head! Keeping moving us the frick around and we will stab you in the goddamn lung, and you will bleed all over Azula's side of the cell!"

Long story short, even if Azula was trying to stab her, she was in no condition to dodge or block.

Her life sucked.

"Hold still."

Um. Toph wasn't comfortable with holding still. It was not in her best interests.

She almost screamed in pain when she once again felt a touch on her ribs, but this time it wasn't invasive. It was gentle. She felt the cloth against her bare skin and felt Azula's distinct body hovering over her, and pointedly decided the Fire Nation princess had forgotten the term; personal space, and Toph in turn decided to give her a subtle reminder.

"Princess, remember how we said my side is my side so there will be no beating or molesting of me. Raping me is not a step up."

There. That was earthbending subtlety. Fear it.

"Oh honey." The princess cooed. Azula fucking cooed. Oh. My. god. "If I wanted to rape you, it would have happened already, and after said experience it would be completely consensual."

The distaste must have shown on Toph's face because Azula's tone changed to snide and slightly amused immediately.

"Calm yourself stupid. I'm binding your ribs so it doesn't hurt as much when you move."

Oh. Well okay then…

The silence after that was anything but companionable, and sadly the only thoughts running through Toph's mind were;

_The prolonged awkward quiet between me and my psychotic cell mate is producing hundreds of gay babies right now. I'm helping the human race!_

And…

_Ugh. Were nobles always this bipolar? Good Lord._

She clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth.

"Hypothetically…if we escaped in the next couple of months what are you gonna do Azula?"

She felt the hands weaving the cloth around her middle pause, hovering in the air. The question hadn't been that random. Had it?

"Well.." The former fire nation princess began in her typical unamused drawl. "If we do happen to escape, and if you don't turn me into my brother so he can sell me off to someone, I really don't know. I'll probably be a bounty hunter or something equally bad ass, so I can live happily in my own violent world."

That's it?

"That's it? No scheme to get the throne. No revenge plot against Zuko for being an ass. Nothing?"

"Don't sound so surprised. When you only have yourself to talk to and you've suffered a humiliating defeat by…a waterbender." Azula's vehement tone showed how much she loved Katara. Toph winced. "You have to ask how losing was even possible since by talent and intelligence alone I should have been able to win. The only thing I can come up with is that I was angry and bitter and obviously not at my best. It was…distasteful. The only thing I want right now is to get out of this shithole."

She had a point. Technically Azula was a genius and had been fighting harder, training longer and honing her skills to perfection. Katara had only been waterbending for a measly year and half. It didn't match up.

Had this whole slavery experience really changed her to the point where revenge and ambition were alien to her though.

Yeah. No. Not likely.

And even if it had…

Azula as a bounty hunter? That's a joke!

"Princess you do know that bounty hunters are tools that can't afford to pick and choose their jobs, and are always moving. They always have sucky living conditions, and the general population treats them like absolute garbage. If you want a job where you can fight you should enter Earth Rumble a bunch of times, or become a teacher."

"I despise kids."

There was no doubt that Azula was scowling. Seriously the fire nation princess' weakness was kids..Grubby snot nosed kids…Let down of the freakin century. Azula just lost all her cool points, and her bad ass image was slowly fading.

"You would be a good teacher then. The ones that actually like kids usually baby them so they're not actually prepared when it counts, but when kids have someone kicking them in the ass all the time…well they suffer and we don't."

"So what you wanna open a school for brats then?"

Toph froze. Did she say that? What the hell? NO! Kids are stupid!

"No, that was my suggestion to _you._ I don't want to teach kids. I _already_ taught the Avatar. I'm good."

"Aw you can give advise but not take it?"

"Shove it princess Sn-"

They both froze when they heard the metal door to their underground prison slam open, and several heavy metallic boots announced the arrival of some meat headed guards.

"Hello Ladies. I see that you two have gotten acquainted."

Toph felt Azula shift next to her, and the air suddenly seemed colder. Princess most likely just glared at the guards, because she could hear some metallic shoes shifting nervously. Hah. Freakin noobs.

"Well now that you two are such great friends. You can go meet the general. Together. Isn't that exciting?"

Externally Toph remained unresponsive, as did her cellmate.

Internally, she was screaming.

"_EFF YOU! NOOBS! EAT MONKEY CRAP AND DIE! I HOPE YOU'RE STUCK ON THE TOILET FOR THREE DAYZ, AND THEN YOU DIE AND COME BACK TO LIFE JUST SO I CAN MURDER YOU WHEN I ESCAPE!"_

-10 min later-

"I feel very manhandled right now."

"Shut up, you frickin **cripple**"

Toph yelped when she was backhanded across the face.

No he fuckin didn't. She restrained the urge to massage her swelling cheek and looked resolutely forward.

That bastard was going to die later. Well, at least that's the message Azula was tapping out on her hand as she walked next to her. Who knew that the princess could use Brezo(Morose code, avatar style).

They stopped, and since they were on real earth, finally, Toph could see a large looming structure above her, most likely a big ass tent. Her suspicions were confirmed when a large sounding man, stopped them from entering.

"This is the general's tent. Slaves don't belong in there."

Slaves. Retarded word. Evil in every context.

"The general asked for these slaves personally. "

She could feel the big man's grubby eyes assessing them-judging them like a one would a good sales product.

"They don't look like the ones he takes to bed what does he want them for?"

Um. Ew.

This talk of bed taking with sleaze balls was making her nauseous.

"I don't know. I'm just making a delivery. So just move out of the way before one or both of us get in trouble."

With some grumbling the burly guard allowed them all into the overly large tent, and the guards that had escorted them promptly left not two seconds later making Toph wonder why the guards had made such a hasty retreat. She extended her senses and felt a large desk of some sort, and ironically sitting stoically behind the desk was the general she had brained earlier.

Somehow, Toph seriously doubted he was happy to see her or Azula.

"So, girls how do you like my hospitality?"

Before Toph could answer Azula snorted, and all of the earthbender's delusions of the fire princess's regal-ness began to dissipate. Apparently snorting was not beneath the great Azula. Go figure.

"I find you're hospitality rather…lacking."

Understatement of the century, princess.

"Oh…that's too bad maybe if you had not been such unruly guests perhaps it would be more accommodating. As it is, " His voice became unnaturally dark. "You're lucky you're not _dead_."

"Right because the alternative is sooooo much better."

Had she said that out loud. Oops.

"Yes well don't worry, eventually we'll kill you off too."

Goody. Goody.

"As of right now though, you two are rather important. I think I could fetch a hefty ransom rights for a former princess, and the Avatar's former earthbending teacher…Or should I say a former Bei Fong?"

What the fuck?

That wasn't funny. Sadistic Bastard.

Toph felt cold though. She felt a shiver run up her spine, and pain ricotched off her ribs, but despite all that her voice came out hard.

"**What the hell are you talking about?"**

She heard papers being shuffled, before he decided to irritate her with his voice again. "It's the latest news. The Bei Fongs acknowledged that they had a crippled daughter in public, acknowledged that she could earthbend magnificently then they acknowledged that she was stubborn, deceitful, and was intent on tarnishing the Bei Fong name with her barbaric ways, and her newest atrocity was unforgivable, after all what type of daughter abandons the Avatar, and then refuses to come home and honor her parents plans for the future. So they publicly denounced you as their daughter."

Throughout the whole explanation Toph had said nothing. She felt herself slowly going numb.

She had never gotten along with her parents. She had run away but despite everything she had never thought of disowning them before.

"You're lying." She didn't mean for it to come out as a whisper but it did.

He chuckled morbidly, and she vainly wished he would spontaneously keel over and die, but obviously, the Fates hated her, no such thing happened.

She heard the damn paper shuffling, and he actually came out from behind the desk, and wisely chose to come near the side opposite of Toph.

"If you don't believe me I'll have your new friend read the notice sent out everywhere."

She heard the fucking paper being sent in Azula's direction, and through the earth she could feel the former princess was hesitant to take the paper let alone read to her, but not one to back down and understanding the necessity of it, Azula carefully took the paper, and hesitantly began to read.

"It has been marked on this day that the Bei Fongs have reached the conclusion that their irresponsible daughter is clearly unworthy of wearing the Bei Fong name. She has lied, cheated, participated in illegal activities and clearly is more interested in delinquencies then actually upholding the Bei Fong name and all it represents. So as of today, Toph is no longer a Bei Fong, and her inheritance, funds, and titles will all be belong solely to her-her younger sibling on the day of his/her birth."

Toph felt something in her die.

Her parents were having another fucking baby. A normal not crippled baby. One they could mold into a perfect Bei Fong, and in doing so replace her, because apparently she was a mistake.

This was bullshit.

Toph suddenly felt exhausted, and had a completely unwanted urge to plop and the ground and start bawling, but what's the point? Those asswipes didn't deserve her tears. They obviously weren't crying over her.

"Toph…"

Azula's concerned tone did absolutely nothing for her current mood.

"Toph there's more."

Did she even _want_ to hear the rest?

No halfways. It was like ripping off a bandaid. Quick and clean.

…over and over again…fuck.

She nodded carefully to Azula, who began to read again.

"If Toph is found she is to be informed of this decision, and if she is seen within ten feet of the Bei Fong residence she will be removed like any common trespasser and escorted elsewhere. If she is seen in public in the same vicinity as the Bei Fongs she won't be acknowledged, nor will she be allowed to acknowledge them, and overall no contact will be allowed between her and her former sibling seeing as how she will be a questionable influence on them…"

Those _**fuckers**__._

Toph sank to her knees on the ground trembling, and she felt Azula come to her side in quick purposeful strides, and hover over her in a way that almost shielded her from the still prevalent threat in the room.

Those bastards took everything. Her inheritance. Her name. Hell her fucking sibling wasn't even allowed to know her.

She hated her parents. Hated. Loathed. Despised. She was running out of fucking words to describe how utterly pissed she was.

"Sooooo since I'm giddy from the air of utter despair in the room… I mostly wanted to inform you that you are both free from your underground prison and will be working the mines with the other prisoners, and now that you're aware…Guards!"

Instantly four guards ambled into the room.

"Escort these ladies out they have work to do."

Toph let herself be bodily dragged out of the room by the four burly men, and she vaguely felt Azula trailing not too far behind her. Silent, and wary, as always-the princess was.

Her world had just crumbled around her, and the only one there to witness or help was Azula.

Ugh. This took sucky to a whole new level entirely.

* * *

><p>So yeah that was my soap opera piece. I'm a review whore so plz R and R it makes happy and motivates me to update quicker, but you don't have to since I'll be updating regardless, but well...pleaaaaaaaaasssssssssseeee. R an R people.<p> 


	3. Deja vu

Okay thanks for the reviews guys. I cant tell you how sick I am right now though. So I don't know how great this chappie is going to be, but read it anyway you might like it. Oh yeah just a warning this might or might not be an f/f I havent decided yet. No one has reviewed anything about a pairing so I'll move the story along till I decide.

**Meneldur** ; Okay you sent a long review but let me see if I can high light some things. Mostly about Azula, Toph's attitude, and the use of words from our world. Azula first. Okay first of all if you remember Azula from the very last episodes she had completely lost her mind. That's the Azula I put in my story. After losing her mind if she was put in a situation such as a death camp. 2 things can happen she can get colder and more evil or she can mellow. I chose to mellow her, cuz frankly it makes the plot easier to write, and Azula in my story isn't really capable of manipulating anyone right now because of how haunted, and scarred she is. That and everyone in the death camp has been temporarily chi crippled by the shackles on their hands and feet so no one can bend, which cancels out your suggestions. Secondly about Toph's attitude she has always been abrasive, and rude. I just made her worse:)Those are her most endearing qualities. However, you also said she was uncaring which I disagree with. She cares a lot. However she's blunt, and she's one of those people who will drive you insane until you see sense like how she trained Aang in the beginning of the second season by taking his staff, and pokin at his passive nature. Lastly about the words from our world. That's my writing style. I don't really plan on changing that. So bear with me.

* * *

><p>Toph hissed and slowly lowered herself to the ground so she was flat on her back. Everything ached. Her ribs were still broken, and she spent hours doing menial labor. Mining. Her earthbending allowed her to see, but she couldn't actively bend her chi and move the earth so everything had to be done through pure physical strength, and despite all that B.S. she ached to go back to the mines. That monotonous labor kept her mind off of less savory subjects, like how her parents freaking disowned her.<p>

Her hands clenched into fists, shaking.

Or how they were having another kid to replace her.

Or how her so called friends apparently did nothing while her parents steam rolled over her name and ruined her life.

Or even better what the bloody hell was wrong with Azula.

The princess had been stuck in this hell for six months, and seemed to have mellowed. This was freakin Azula though. She didn't mellow. However right after the final battle she vaguely remembered Azula rolling around on the ground, frothing at the mouth and literally spitting lightning. Obviously the princess had lost her damn mind. Her psych had become completely unhinged. From there one of two things could have happened she could have become colder, and more apathetic, or she could have mellowed.

The Azula thing to do would have been to become colder, more meticulous, more dangerous, but then the princess was sent to this shithole. This was hell. It could change anyone. It could ruin anyone. Here, Azula was not even afforded her usual methods of fighting. The princess was used to relying on manipulation, deceit, ambushing, and by the time it came down to hand-to-hand fighting usually the Fire Nation princess had already won.

Azula was in no condition to manipulate _anyone _and even if she was her superior ability to control people and deceive them meant absolutely _**nothing **_here.

Hypothetically, she could take down a guard, steal his clothes and walk out.

Hypothetically she could seduce a guard, and leave.

Hypothetically she could take the general hostage, and use him as leverage to get free.

Unfortunately Azula was not physically strong enough to take down a guard nor was she able to adapt the physical appearance of a guard due to her malnourished and scrawny look, and she definitely was not strong enough to evade capture once she was escaped.

Toph was pretty sure seduction wasn't even a part of the princess's repertoire of skills athough the thought was kind of funny.

And, hell capturing the general was almost impossible without bending, and the fucking braces on their hands and feet left the benders chi crippled. Bending of any kind was not even possible. The only way out of this death camp was to physically get stronger and break the braces to escape.

Toph groaned, and used one hand to massage her pounding temples.

She had wasted twenty minutes of valuable sleeping time thinking about Azula.

Seriously? What the crap?

Her eyes teared in pain when she felt a sudden poke to her ribs.

What. The. Fuck. Why!

Logic says not to poke broken bones. Logically that would hurt like hell. So logically…..WHY THE FUCK DID PEOPLE KEEP POKING HER?

Toph hissed in the direction the poke had come from.

"_What?" _

"I wanted to know if you were alright. You've seemed off ever since you came back, and they separated you from Azula."

"I'm just _peachy."_

That wasn't bitingly sarcastic at all. It was sincere…ish. Really what was she suppose to say? Well, Cookie my family just said I was in accident of nature and they disowned me. They gave everything to my younger sibling that I'll never meet and can't associate with. I'm stuck in this hell, and the only person I really know is a formerly sadistic princess with anger management issues.

"You don't sound...peachy."

Pssh. Puh-lease. Toph was fiiiiiiine. She was all about the sunshines and lollipops. Puppies and rainbows. Flower power all the way baby... Someone kill her now. Her life sucked.

"Cookie, I'm fine. Seriously, it's just been a rough day."

Her new..what friend? Prison buddy? Temporary guide with benefits?- remained quiet, and in the condensed space they were sleeping in the silence was almost eerie.

"Hey Toph…"

Oh my god. No. That tone of voice screamed a heart-to-heart was in the near future.

"I know you and Azula aren't like the rest of us. We really don't matter. No one will know that we're missing. No one will care, but you two- you're actually important. Why hasn't anyone come for you, or her? "

Toph was floored.

Good freaking question.

Then a sudden unwanted realization hit her, and her answer came out abnormally soft.

"We're important but not irreplaceable. She's a cold princess that's been rejected by everyone. I'm a brash political figure that never lived up to the standards anyone set for me. We're not necessary, and can be replaced. My only hope of rescue would be my friends, but I'm not holding my breath there."

"But you're friends with Avatar. He mus-"

"Cookie, the friendship between me and the Avatar has been slowly dying since the day it started. He needed me to train him and I did. Outside of training and fighting the war, I can't count the number of times I've been forgotten while the group went out and had fun. When I was invited it was at their convenience. I have experience with rich people B.S., political garbage, and I can cuss in nine different languages. I know nothing about relationships, but I'm pretty sure friendships aren't supposed to work that way."

Once again silence dominated the room.

"And Azula?"

Toph restrained herself from tilting her head to the side in puppy-ish confusion.

"What about her?"

"She's the firelord's sister. He has-"

"Don't get it twisted Cookie. Zuko's the one who put Azula in here."

This time the silence that followed her statement was deafening, until her temporary guide with benefits broke it again.

"She's not all that bad you know."

Toph sighed. She wasn't sleeping tonight. It was inevitable.

"What the chiz are you talking about Cookie?"

"Azula. She's not that bad. You know one time the general brought back a mother and her kid. Azula was in the process of escaping when she saw him wrench the child away, and threaten to burn him alive. Azula chose to come back and she attacked him. You know the scar above his eye and his missing teeth. Those were all her."

Toph took a second to process that.

Azula saved someone.

…..

Wtf?

* * *

><p>Iroh paced in his room. His contact had informed him that Toph had never arrived at the meeting point, which begged the question where exactly was his young ward? She saw the journey he had given her as a challenge so she would not have voluntarily abandoned it. Something must have happened. Something bad.<p>

On top of whatever happened to Toph, another problem that needed to be dealt with was her parents. He could truthfully say he disliked them, and was amazed Toph had turned out as well as she did under their care.

He remembered sitting slack jawed as they announced their intention to disown Toph, ripping her of her status, her inheritance, and her name.

It disgusted him.

They obviously only saw Toph as brash, rude and uncaring. They were wrong. Toph was insightful, and full of untapped potential. She saw people's true intentions, their true character and was always ready to break someone down, so she could build them up as a stronger person. She was unique.

And missing.

He scowled.

One week.

She's been gone for a whole week, and the whole time her friends had been complaining how selfish she was for leaving them, totally ignoring the fact that she had lost everything.

He needed tea. Badly.

He was too old for this crap.

* * *

><p>"Wakey, Wakey you pieces of shit! It's a new day. The mines are calling!"<p>

Omg. Stupidness.

That is what Toph woke up to. It was five in the effing morning. There was no godly reason to be up at this hour. None whatsoever. She stumbled to her hands and her knees, and slowly got to her feet, ignoring her screaming ribs and stiff muscles.

"I hate my life."

She felt a sympathetic pat on the shoulder from her fortune cookie like friend.

"The first few months are always the hardest."

Toph stood there. Frozen.

Months…MONTHS!

She had to do this five a.m. bullshit for months?

Omg. NO! Fuck that! Say no to drugs and thugs.

"Um..Toph." The cautionary tone being used on her was not helping. "Are you okay? You look kind of-" Apparently the fortune cookie was looking for a polite word to use and ended up with. "You look a little panicked."

Toph trembled and pointed accusingly at her temporary guide. " Panicked? PANICKED?I'm not panicked you're panicked! Don't judge me! You're one of those damn evil cookies. You only look sweet! You wait for people to take a bite than you choke them and they die! Omg, I'm gonna die!"

Toph heard more than saw graceful and silent footsteps that signaled the arrival of Azula, and

was only mildly surprised to hear the fire nation princess's voice a couple of seconds later.

"She's making too much damn noise. What's wrong with her?"

Toph pointed accusingly at the Aerin. "She's a friggin evil cookie! She wants to kill me!" She then pointed at Azula. "And you. YOU! You want me to go insane. I'm on a mindtrip from hell because of you. First you come off evil and psychotic, then you go all mellow and reformed, and now you save little kids!"

She could feel Azula look at her strangely.

And then the ex princess addressed her temporary guide. "So..what's wrong with her?"

"It's her first official breakdown. It was bound to happen sooner or later."

"Hey! I'm right here! Talk about me behind my back, not in front of my face. What the frig is wrong with you people?"

Toph heard Azula sigh heavily.

"What caused this breakdown? She's been hit by a lot in the last week?"

"I think it was hearing that she's gonna have to wake up early for the next couple of months."

Toph snarled. She could hear the amusement in Aerin's voice. It wasn't funny. She punched her cookie-like friend in the shoulder. "Don't laugh. I will end you. Do you see me laughing? No. No I'm not. Don't make me come over there. Okay, I will personally –"

Toph's head whipped back, as a hard hand became acquainted with her face.

Um. Ow.

"What the hell?"

"You were rambling, and there's no time for this. We have rocks to mine. "

There was absolutely no inflection in Azula's tone. There was no condescension or arrogance. It was the same no nonsense drawl that Toph was rapidly becoming reacquainted with and yet she was still offended.

She had just gotten pwned.

Azula had just bitch slapped her.

…..

Definitely. Not Okay.

* * *

><p>Shovel, inspect, throw in barrel.<p>

Shovel, inspect, throw in barrel.

Toph paused as she felt the smooth stone in her hand, and gave a disgustingly false yell of excitement "Hey inspecter guy, I found something valuable."

She didn't have to wait long before heavy metal clad feet became audible, and not too long later a Fire Nation guard ambled up to her, pausing when he stood before her. She could smell his rank breath, and she could vaguely see him looming over her.

Damn why the hell did she have to be so short? It was unfair! These bastards were all stupidly tall.

"So you really found something interesting?"

She grinned wickedly. "Well… No, but now that you're over here, I have a very important question. On a scale of 1 to 10 how much do you like your fugly general. One being you kinda wanna castrate and bury him, and ten being you like kissing his ass on a regular basis."

The punch was expected. She did not expect him to punch her in the stomach.

Seriously, that was uncalled for. Next time he needs to just hit her in the face. That would have been preferable to the mindbending pain she was feeling now.

She went down on one knee, grabbing her abused midsection.

"Chiz, bitch on rice, holy mother fudgebuckets on shitsicles." Toph groaned. "Oh my god, it ."

The guard grunted. "Next time you call me. I suggest you actually have something."

He turned, and walked away. Toph glared even as his footsteps melted away. She was making a list. The general was number one. That bastard was number two. When she busted out of here they were the first ones going down. She would crush them. Repeatedly.

A gentle touch on her shoulder surprised her out of her violent reverie.

People were sneaking up on her now? Wooooow. Worst. Week. Ever.

"Nice work, that distraction let me snatch extra food."

Whoop-de-freakin-doo Princess tell that to my broken ribs. They don't care!

"Great, glad my plan is working."

"We'll switch next time. I'll do the distraction, and you grab extra food. In the mean time we can treat mining as training, and at night we can do pushups and situps before we sleep."

Toph grimaced.

That sounded painful in so many ways.

"Hey you bitches get back to work."

Toph wanted to spit.

Say bitch one more time. One more. She was going to shove rocks so far down his throat he was shitting dirt for a week.

Heh. That wasn't violent _at all._

* * *

><p>Night time came too soon.<p>

Azula had snuck into their shack, and prodded her awake. Toph had responded with in unintelligible 'Wtf' and swatted tiredly at the princess to make her leave which had resulted in her being bodily dragged out of the shack to the secluded area they were in now.

They were totally alone together.

Was that safe?

"Toph focus."

"I'm listening."

The most important thing to work on is our upper body, so we can break the braces. After that we can bend our way out. So we'll start out simple with some push ups."

Toph nodded distractedly.

And yet somehow simple did not translate to easy.

An hour later, they were still doing push ups. Toph could feel her body screaming in protest as she heaved herself off the ground for what felt like the millionth time. Her arms trembled, and sweat poured off her heated muscles. She could hear Azula panting tiredly next to her. This exercise was probably killing the stubborn princess since being here had completely deteriorated her muscles.

Toph carefully lowered herself to the ground, and with inhuman effort heaved herself up again, and her arms almost gave out, but they remained braced beneath her by pure force of will.

"Enough. I think it's time to do something else."

Toph almost hugged Azula.

However, getting maimed was not her goal for the future, so she simply sighed in relief, and almost collapsed into the soft earth.

"Sit-ups"

Toph groaned internally.

* * *

><p>"Are you guys really okay with this? Maybe would should have followed her."<p>

Suki was having a hard time believing how carefree everyone was being. Toph had just up and left over a week ago, and they were acting like nothing happened, and then her parents had disowned her, and no one said anything. What? Was stuff like that unimportant because the world wasn't in crisis? They had to be fair and not judge when it's a global issue but when a friend needs help they don't give a shit. Something was wrong here.

Sokka groaned. "C'mon Suki it's Toph. Toph never needs help, and she'd beat our faces in for suggesting it."

He was kidding right?

Of course not. Why was she with him? He was stupid.

Aang nodded sagely. "He has a point. Toph is tough. She can take care of herself, and sometimes she needs space."

Suki blinked. She was surrounded by morons.

She turned pleadingly to the only other female in the room.

Katara looked bewildered at her beseeching expression, and shook her head carefully.

"I don't know. Toph is hard to read. If she needs help she knows we'll help her. All she has to do is ask."

Suki groaned, and face palmed, before turning to glare at each person in the room in turn.

She pointed at accusingly at Sokka. "No"

She swerved to point at Aang. "No."

Lastly she turned all but snarled at Katara. "NO."

"You guys are being dumb and annoyingly ignorant. Toph isn't invincible. She can't handle everything on her own. She's powerful and rash and a fantastic earthbender but she's also the second youngest one here. She's a kid that needs her friends. If she was in trouble she would never ask for help. She's the type of person that tries to handle her problems alone, and Aang don't be naïve this isn't space. She left. She's not coming back. She said she might be back on holidays, and her parents freaking disowned her. There's no way she's doing fine right now. We should be with her. What the hell are we doing here?"

"I was kind of wondering the same thing."

They all blinked at the new voice.

Iroh.

"Iroh?"

"I have something to tell you all about Toph. It might be too late though."

* * *

><p>Toph could not remember waking up this tired EVER. Her healthy layer of earth was actually unhealthy and disgusting right about now, and once again everything ached. She stumbled as she got up feeling light headed. Azula was no doubt as groggy as she was. It wasn't a cheery thought.<p>

"Alright chitlings. Up up, we have work to do. We might even get to play a game."

Wtf? Game?No. Games were fun. That man was a sadistic bastard. His version of a game was probably letting rabid animals loose and seeing which unlucky prisoner gets eaten first.

Toph muttered obscenities and ambled out of her shack with Aerin trudging silently behind her.

"Toph where did you go last night?"

She froze. Shit.

Um. Answer. Don't answer. Fuck snap replies were not coming easily right now.

"Why?"

"In the middle of the night, I heard Azula come in and you both left together."

Fudge. Crap. Chizlings. Ugh. Stupid Azula.

"It's not-well-"

Damn it. She NEVER fumbled with words. What the hell was wrong with her? She must be truly exhausted to sound this stupid. And stuttering. Yeah. Not cool.

"Did you leave to go, well…Are you together?"

Omg. Woah what?

Her brain short circuited.

What the crap? Together? Like together together?

"I mean since she sometimes protects people around the camp, and yunno she's not ugly a lot of the men, and some of the women have crushes on her and-"

Toph held up a hand, cutting her friend off and gagged.

She might have thrown up a little.

"Cookie you think Azula and I are together, like holding hands, with gag me expressions, and mushy nick names together. Are you serious?"

She could feel Aerin shrug uncertainly. "I mean girls getting together happens more than you think in this camp. It's comforting for some, and Azula seems different since you showed up-less cold. Are you unhappy because she's a girl? Does that kind of thing scare you?"

It was five in the morning. Toph would rather gouge her eyes out than have this conversation. However running from the fortune cookie's questions went against her confrontational nature.

"Look I don't think about relationships on a regular basis. Honestly being with anyone hasn't crossed my mind since I hit puberty, and this is hardly the time or place to think about it, and if I were thinking about finding a partner I seriously doubt gender matters. Hell, looks don't matter either. Character, intelligence, all that shit counts. Azula's smart. She's talented. She's also fucking dangerous. So no, no relationship with Azula is going on."

The silence was irritating. Cookie was never really quiet.

"What Cookie?"

"What were you doing then? The only other thing I can think of is the notorious escape schemes Azula tries."

Something must have shown in her expression if Aerin's startled gasp was any indication.

"That's it isn't it? You were making escape plans."

Toph debated on how to answer, and opted to slowly nod her head.

"Do you think you can do it?"

There was no question. There was no way she was staying in this hell hole.

"I can and will. There is no alternative."

"Can you save us too? All these people can you save us?"

Toph paled. She hadn't thought of that. This was a slave camp. Hundreds of slaves are here. She could save herself. She could help Azula, but could two bending masters free everyone. Fuck this was making the war look like a cake walk. Now that the idea was out there though, she really did want to save everyone.

Question was; Could she?

In the distance she heard a lone wolf howl, and had an odd feeling of Déjà vu, but she quickly dismissed it. It was unlikely that the wolf she had patched up what felt like over a life time ago had followed her all the way here.

Right?

* * *

><p>R and r reviews make me happy:)<p> 


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